OIL POLICY

One of the short-sighted policies that I've never understood is the Republican's joy when oil prices go down, as they have been lately.  The price of gasoline at the pump drops, people drive more with less concern and even rush out to purchase that gas guzzler that they've had their eye on.  Naturally, the logical result of this consequence is even more CO2 that makes it up into the atmosphere, exacerbating the growing climate change.

I heard one legislator today brag that the age of alternative fuels is dead, since they can't compete with oil.  That's certainly true at today's prices, but what happens when the producers decide to withhold production and the price shoots up again, as it surely will.  And what about the subsidies that big oil gets in the form of depletion allowances that tilt the playing field in their favor.  Yes, renewable sources don't deplete a resource - and that's exactly why they should be subsidized when necessary - and tax advantages for oil cut.   But the chances of that scenario coming to pass when big oil is such a monolith is minimal, to say the least.  Yes, we have the best Congress that money can buy.

But aside from the climate change debate, consider that eventually, as it surely must, the US supply of hydrocarbons will begin to taper off.  If we have burned it all in transportation and electricity generation, then there will be nothing left for recyclable uses such as plastics. From that standpoint, we would be better off to import as much as we can, saving our own resources for when all other sources are depleted.